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Live Oak
Unitarian Universalist Church
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April 10th 10:00am - In Person or online
The Spiritual Practice of Showing Up
Rev. Erin Walter
The Spiritual Practice of Showing Up: From trans rights to reproductive justice, voting rights to the environment, this is a crucial time in Texans' fight for justice and UU values in the world. The Rev. Erin Walter, musician, dance teacher, and new Executive Director of the Texas Unitarian Universalist Justice Ministry, joins us to reflect on her experience of "showing up as a spiritual practice" and invites us all to deepen our own practices for seeking joy and justice.
Rev. Erin J. Walter (she/her/hers) serves as the Minister and Executive Director for the Texas Unitarian Universalist Justice Ministry, our statewide action network. Winner of the 2017 Sermon Award from the UU Women’s Federation and a former YMCA director, Rev. Erin is the singer/songwriter /bassist for band Parker Woodland and teaches community Zumba as a joy practice. Erin is the Affiliated Community Minister of Wildflower (Unitarian Universalist) Church in Austin.
Join us in person (or online) for Worship at 10:00am. The link will be on the Live Oak homepage: www.liveoakuu.org.
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Share the Plate
A legal helping hand
The Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services is our Share the Plate recipient for April. RAICES provides free and low-cost legal help to immigrant children and families and to refugees in Texas. Its clients, including children, would have to go to court alone without that representation. The nonprofit also provides social programs, bond assistance for release from detention centers and advocacy personnel. Learn more at: www.raicestexas.org
Go to the Donate link on the Live Oak website’s home page. Use the drop down menu to designate your donation for “Share the Plate”.
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A Few Words from the Minister
Rev. Joanna will be on sabbatical through August 31. During this time, we will be sharing some of her writings. Today's: BELOVED COMMUNITY: THE NOW AND NOT YET. We often talk about "Beloved Community." But what exactly is that?
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Thirty and Thriving!
Live Oak UU Church is celebrating 30 years this year!
Live Oak Unitarian Universalist Church is 30 years old this year! We’re having a celebration weekend on Oct 1 & 2, 2022 (Save The Date!) and we need help planning the festivities. A few of us met in March to brainstorm ideas and the next meeting is Tuesday evening April 12 at 6 p.m. on Zoom. We’d like to have a variety of people on the team – people who’ve been here different lengths of time, including brand new members. We need people with all different skills and interests. We need people who can only make a short-term or one-time commitment as well as some who can commit to more than that.
Our rough ideas are for a party Saturday afternoon/evening that would include, among other things, refreshments and music, and a special Sunday service perhaps followed by a reception to greet former members and kids who grew up at Live Oak who are now adults. We might invite a few community leaders to speak briefly, and we’d like to have some kind of history project including photos of Live Oak’s past activities. We need people to help with publicity, refreshments, music, set up, clean up, decorating, etc.
If you’re willing to help with any of these tasks, and/or if you have other ideas for this celebration, please join us on April 12 at 6 p.m. on Zoom. The link will be on the What's Happening page. If you can’t make that meeting but want to help in some way, let us know! Contact Jen Swan
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Update Your Contact Info
Reminder to let us know when you change your preferred email address, move, or get a new phone number. Send an email to administrator@liveoakuu.org.
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Spring Campout this Weekend!
Come out for the day on Saturday and stay for our traditional potluck in the evening!
Camping has been an important part of my life since I was very young. Being out in nature nourishes and renews me, so our church campouts mean a lot to me. Shortly after I joined Live Oak Church in April of 1997 (25 years ago!) I was surprised and excited to learn that they had campouts twice a year. I already knew Live Oak was the place for me, but that really sealed the deal. One of my favorite early memories of camping with Live Oak was when my younger son ran up to me around 7 p.m. one Saturday evening and begged, “Moooommmm, can I please go to bed now?” That was a first! He was so tired out from running and playing hard with the other kids!
I’m not sure when I started planning the campouts – maybe 20 years ago? My husband doesn’t enjoy camping and I tend to get bored after a few days of camping alone, so I’m really grateful to know I have friends to camp with at least twice a year.
Our mission statement says: Embrace Joy; Enrich Connections; Encourage Growth; Empower Dreams. I’m looking forward to a lot of joy and connection at our campout this weekend. Campouts are one of the few times I feel like we can really make connections, when we’re relatively free of work obligations, household chores, and church meetings, and we have time to visit with each other in a more leisurely way.
- Jen Swan
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Social Justice Ministry Team Meeting
Open to all
The Social Justice Ministry Team will have its monthly meeting this Sunday, 4/10/2022 from 2-3 pm. A draft agenda is here. The group will be considering Share the Plate recipients as well as reviewing Live Oak’s justice activities and plans. All are welcome and the Zoom link may be found on the What’s Happening page and in the agenda.
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Women's Labyrinth Group IN PERSON!
Sunday, April 10, 6:30-9 pm in the Library
After two years on Zoom, the Women's Labyrinth Group is meeting at the church for a sharing circle and labyrinth walk with the focus "Return again, Return to the land of your soul."
Please bring something for the altar that is meaningful to you. Feel free to share a song, poem or short reading. The group is open to women high school age and older. Contact: Linda Webster for more information.
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Changes in Fresh Food for All
More volunteers needed for Friday, April 15th
This month, Fresh Food For All participants will be able to select their own produce (Farmer's Market style), instead of having the prepackaged produce placed in their car trunks. This means that we will no longer need volunteers on Thursday to sort the food, but we will need more volunteers on Friday to help with directing traffic, weighing the food, and helping people carry food to their cars. If you can help anytime on April 15th between 8:30 and 11AM, RSVP to Donna Durbin at: HCCM@liveoakuu.org
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Looking for Event Hosts
When there is a large event at Live Oak, we require an Event Host. This is a Live Oak person that is onsite during the event. The host duties include:
- unlocking the building
- helping renters arrange the stage
- being available to answer questions
- making sure the renter is only using the spaces they have reserved
- making sure any children present are staying in the reserved areas
- making sure the stage is reset after the event
- locking the building
Hosts are paid $20/hr which is included in the rental fees. Training will be provided. If you are interested, email Diane Stepakof-Fay.
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RE Class under the Trees
Members of all ages learned how important trees are to the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part. Sunday, after the service, the Environmental Awareness Team conducted a program where 16 church members learned how trees improve our environment. Participants broke out into teams, measured trees, and calculated the value and benefit of having trees on the church property. It is estimated that the 27 trees in the Chalice Pathway Memorial Grove will remove 6,048 lbs of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere a year, which will accumulate to 215,067 pounds of carbon dioxide over 20 years!
Chris Mihealsick,. Team Leader
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Construction Photos
No new photos this week, but click here if you didn't see these from last week.
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Share the Plate
It's time to choose next recipients.
Do you know of a worthy nonprofit you’d like Live Oak to support by sharing our offering plate one month this year? Nominations will be considered every four months in 2022 and the Social Justice Ministry Team will choose recipients for May-August at its upcoming meeting. Organizations nominated in December do not need to be resubmitted.
Send nominations with your name (not just your email address) to sharetheplate@liveoakuu.org by April 7. Make sure the group is a 501(c)(3) charity and explain how its work reflects Live Oak UU’s values.
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Important Dates to Know
The Voting Rights Team wants to make sure you know these dates:
April 7 Last day to register for the May 7 local election*
April 25 First day of early in-person voting for the May 7 local election
April 25 Last day to register for the May 24 primary runoff election
April 26 Last day to apply for Ballot by Mail (received not postmarked) for the May 7 local election
*The May 7 ballots will have 2 state questions and city races including those in Austin, Round Rock, Leander, Georgetown, and Cedar Park for example
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The Easter Bunny Needs Your "Hop"
Help stock our Easter hunt.
The annual Live Oak Easter egg is back on this year but we need the whole congregation to be involved, by donating prizes for the hunt.
Items are needed for children of all ages, from babies to preteens. These gifts do NOT need to be able to fit into eggs--children will be able to cash in their found eggs for what they want. Some suggested treasures are mini packs of crackers, stickers, sidewalk chalk, seed packets, coins, or even homemade items like bath bombs.
Please bring these items to church no later than April 17 (that's Easter).
The hunt begins at 11 am. Babies and preschoolers will hunt in the playground and elementary students by the back picnic tables. Teens are needed to work the egg-exchange table and to help hide the eggs during service.
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Why Does LOUU Exist?
To fulfill our mission! Is it time to update our mission to reflect our current congregation? That’s up to you. We are looking for 4 volunteers to work on reviewing and revising the church mission. Contact Karen Santhanam if you would like to be on this team!
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UBarU Youth Summer Camps
A week of summer fun in the Texas Hill Country
UBarU Summer Youth camp dates:
Primary camp for campers ages 9-11 or rising* grades 4-6th - June 5-June 11, 2022
Intermediate camp for campers age 12-14 or rising grades - 7-9th June 12-18, 2022
Senior camp camp - for campers age 15-18 or rising grades 10th-2022 high school graduates - June 19-25, 2022
* “rising” means this is the grade the camper will attend in the fall of 2022, not the grade they have just completed.
Detailed information can be found at https://www.ubaru.org/summer-camps where there is all the information about COVID precautions, expectations, and cost for this summer.
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Hungry?
Are you looking for a way to help feed the millions of Ukrainian refugees?
The CROP Walk is an inter-faith, multi-generational fund raising event sponsored by Church World Services to combat hunger. Twenty five percent of the funds will be allocated to the host countries for the refugees, i.e. Romania, Moldova, Georgia.
Youth, teens, littles and adults have several ways to take one step at a time on the paved one mile (one-way) walk: complete the total 2 miles, drop out when you need to, cheer the walkers on at the one mile mark, push your stroller, use a walker or wheelchair. Just do it!
What: The Leander/Cedar Park Hunger CROP Walk
When: April 24th @ 1:30 pm CDT
Where: Pavilion at Twin Lakes YMCA 205 E Little Elm Trail, Cedar Park, TX
Who: You!
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This month, TXUUJM begins new programs, open to all Texas UUs and your friends and communities. On Thursday, April 14, we start the "We Cry Justice" book group with the Poor People's Campaign (6:30-7pm) AND our new weekly Texas Justice Action Hour (7-8pm), taking actions for justice over Zoom, having fun, and building community together. TXUUJM is also looking for Get Out the Vote postcard captains for each congregation, and registering folks for "Being A Good Relative," a program of indigenous solidarity and environmental justice (7-8:30pm Mondays in May). Get all the details, invite friends and register now at bit.ly/TXUUJMApril2022. Any questions? Contact: txuujm@gmail.com
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Join us at camp for Bioblitz 2022! We will work together and with the app- iNaturalist- to catalog wildlife, plants and other creatures at UBarU. Expertise is not required; all are welcome! Bring a sack lunch, water bottle, smart phone, closed toes shoes and your observation skills. This is a free event hosted as an opportunity to learn and gather information about what is living and growing at UBarU.
If you need a tutorial for iNaturalist, the Kerrville Nature Center is hosting a session on April 19.
More details will be sent to participants as we get closer to the day.
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LiveOakUU.org Pages to Visit:
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The deadline for the weekly e-newsletter and the Sunday announcements is midnight on Tuesday. The submission form can be found here
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Live Oak Unitarian Universalist Church
(737) 240-3455 | 3315 El Salido Pkwy, Cedar Park, TX 78613
www.liveoakuu.org
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